Freescale Semiconductor, a provider of embedded processors for
communications, consumer access, and intelligent industrial and aerospace
applications, and Atheros Communications, a developer of wired and wireless
communication semiconductors, announced a collaboration on a production-ready
reference design for high-performance WiFi access points for enterprise offices
and SMBs. Freescale and Atheros are showcasing the reference design at the
Computex convention in Taiwan.

The reference design combines Freescale's energy-efficient QorIQ P1020
processor and Atheros' three-stream 802.11n chip set to speed time to market
and help deliver optimal WLAN performance. The P1020EWLAN reference design is
available now from Freescale Semiconductor, the company announced. The
collaboration is intended to reduce design complexity, lower bill of material
costs and deliver high-performance solutions to OEM customers building WiFi
access points and other 802.11n solutions.

Built on 45-nm process technology, Freescale's QorIQ communications processors
offer a blend of multicore performance and high throughput within constrained
power budgets. The P1020 communications processor delivers 800MHz per core
clock frequencies, and Freescale's P1020 supports multiple high-speed serial
interconnects such as SGMII and PCI Express, enabling the deployment of 802.11n
chip sets with optimal module interfaces. The P1020 system-on-chip (SoC) also
supports the implementation of Power over Ethernet (POE) designs in WiFi access
points.

"Working closely with Atheros, a leading developer of WLAN and other
connectivity semiconductor solutions, underscores Freescale's leadership in a
broad array of wireless communications equipment markets," said Preet Virk,
director of strategy for Freescale's networking processor division. "Our joint
solution gives OEMs an industry-leading combination of dual-core performance
and low-power operation in a reference design that is available today."

The solution leverages the performance of Freescale's QorIQ P1020 SoC and
Atheros' three-stream XSPAN chip set with Signal-Sustain Technology (SST3). The
companies said dual-band, dual-concurrent products based on this combination
can deliver up to 600M bps of actual throughput and greater wireless coverage
to support a range of enterprise and SMB applications that result in improved
productivity levels and increased employee mobility.

Freescale's QorIQ P1 series includes the P1020 and P1011 communications
processors. The series provides single- and dual-core solutions for the 533MHz
to 800MHz performance range, along with advanced security and a set of
interfaces all delivered on 45nm process technology for a low power
implementation. Freescale said the P1 platform series is well-suited for multiservice
gateways, routers, Ethernet switch controllers, wireless LAN
access points and general-purpose embedded processor applications with tight
thermal constraints.

"Many enterprise customers are looking to upgrade their WLAN infrastructure
with three-stream 11n products that support more users and more demanding
applications," said Tony Hsu, senior director of marketing for Atheros'
networking business unit. "Combining our XSPAN solutions with Freescale's P1020
processor enables 3x3 dual-band dual-concurrent capabilities within stringent
power budgets. As a result, OEMs can quickly build products that meet the
performance and reliability requirements of today's enterprise networks."

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.